Monthly Archives: September 2013

Samara Canada is non-partisan organization which seeks to improve political participation in Canada. Well – respected for various projects and research, Samara is perhaps best known for the series of exit interviews conducted with Members of Parliament (MPs) culminating is several fascinating reports about the role of MPs and how MPs see their work.

Samara’s blog also has interesting posts and guest bloggers who write on a variety of lively topics. The most recent post is on “Party Membership 101,” part of a series on political parties. You can check out the 101 entry here and the rest of the political parties series here.

I could have “re-invented the wheel” by developing a tutorial or a post on how a bill becomes a law, but there are many good resources available to the public about this legislative process. I will, therefore, be posting some links to these resources here:

This post comes ahead of a tutorial on the Senate, part of a series on the branches of government. With the Senate expense scandal likely to remain part of the news cycle until such another major event pushes it to the back burner, I thought it important to explain what all of the fuss is about for those who aren’t familiar with the issues surrounding this parliamentary body and all the fuss with it.

The Senate is quite a source of controversy on a good day, never mind when the actions of senators make headlines. In fact, it could be argued that controversy is at the foundation of this chamber. The Senate is one of three parliamentary institutions at the federal level along with the House of Commons and the Crown as we’ve learned in previous tutorials. Continue reading →